by Leigh, Anne
Greyson just became that someone.
“Guys.” Nic’s tone was placating, but I was in no mood to be soothed. “Let’s talk this out.”
Greyson was close enough for me to grab the collar of his dress shirt and that’s what I did.
“Shit.” He sputtered as he was once again caught off guard. “What the fuck is your problem?”
Maybe I was being an immature asshole.
Maybe I was being an egotistical prick.
Maybe I was just seeing all the times he was holding Ali’s arm during the party, when she was smiling at his face, when she laughed at whatever joke he was incapable of making.
Maybe I was just –
“You.” I derided, lifting his gangly ass and pushing him towards the couch where he smacked a knee against the side as he yelped, “Oww!’
Nic was in-between us in no time.
Geneva was a good friend of mine. I liked Uncle Xavier and Aunt Nalee. They were good people.
Right now I couldn’t say the same for their son.
“If you push me one more time, Matteo, I swear to fucking God, I will punch the hell out of you,” Greyson warned. Or tried to.
He was almost as tall as I was, but there was no way he could plow me over in a fight.
“Before we get to the punching,” Nic started, his hand slapped over my chest, clearly blocking me from attacking Greyson again, “can you tell us why you want to murder Greyson?”
The question was obviously intended for me.
I took a deep breath and counted in French. I added some Italian in there too.
Just to tighten the leash on my burgeoning rage.
“Buddy, where’s my sister?” I knew what Nic was trying to do, he was distracting me, preventing me from creating further damage. I might not be best friends with Greyson, but no one would appreciate it if I made an enemy out of him either.
Our families had been connected to each other since the day our parents met in college.
I pushed away from Nic, “I got it,” letting him know that I wasn’t going to let my frustration get in the way again. Telling him that Greyson was safe from my hands.
For now.
“She’s resting,” I said, leaning against the glass railing, looking down at the many different lights that were scattered across the Vegas nightline.
My grandfather used to own thirty percent of everything in Vegas.
Now T & T Inc. had a hand in over seventy percent of Vegas hotels and businesses.
I had too much to lose if I let my anger overpower reason.
“Is she okay?” Greyson asked, his voice even.
“She’s okay now.” I answered flatly, “You had one job – to protect her.”
“I’m sorry?” Greyson threw back, I didn’t bother looking back at him. “What the heck are you talking about? Protect Ali? From what?”
I had always protected Ali.
From the time I knew her name and felt the comfort in her long hugs, I’d always protected her.
Even from myself.
Nic cut out, “Did something happen to her?”
The obvious concern in their voices made everything clearer to me.
They had no idea that she was going to do it.
“Your favor.” This time, I wanted to see his expression when he answered. “Why were you asking to shadow me throughout the summer? Who was it for?”
When I first got Greyson’s text, I thought he was shitting me.
He was hoping I could help someone start a foundation of some sort and if I could, allow that person to follow me when I worked the fundraising activities and if I was so inclined, teach them about how to perform well in the business world.
I told him, no way.
It wasn’t because I didn’t want to help someone.
It was because my plate was full and the last thing I wanted to do was babysit someone I didn’t know.
He asked what it would take for me to agree so I said, win a poker game against me.
I’d heard Greyson was super smart, but I doubted he was as crafty of a poker player as I was.
Troudeau was part of my DNA after all. My grandfather made bluffing a piece of cake.
So of course, Greyson had no chance.
I texted him before I showed my last set of cards, warning him that he was going to lose.
I remembered admiring how soft Ali’s skin looked under the chandelier lights and how I was trying to get Gem’s hands away from me, the woman thought we were headed to the altar after three short dates, I’d looked at my phone again then and answered Greyson, “Win a fight against me.”
There was no way in hell he would.
“Ali thought she could win a fight against me.” Cold sweat beaded across my forehead. “She was the one asking for a favor.”
Nic interrupted my words, “What favor? Why would she want anything to do with you?”
He was right.
After all the time I’d ignored her, or tried to, she was asking Greyson to ask me so she could shadow me…
“Niro wasn’t in the cage with me tonight. None of my dad’s Supreme World’s fighters were.” I’d take care of the consequences later, but there was no way I could hide this from Nic or from Greyson. Not when they were wondering why I’d suddenly had the raging urge to pound the heir of Lockheed Industries’ face into the ground. Not when they’d see her and ask why she was limping.
Not when my best friend was in front of me, staring at me in confusion as to why his sister had suddenly ended up in my suite.
Nic’s face changed from discerning to dread as the realization dawned on him, “Ali?”
Greyson emitted a loud, “What? I was cheering for the other fighter. That was Ali?”
I lowered my head, “I didn’t know it was her. I thought you,” I tilted my head towards Greyson who’d wisely remained sitting on the couch, “would know that she would be fighting me.”
“No fucking way.” Greyson said, “I’d have never let her out of my sight if I knew that that’s what she was planning to do.”
Nic tamped down his outrage. My best friend was a rational man. “How hurt is she?”
“She hurt her leg, but as far as I can tell, it’s not a sprain. Maybe a strain,” I answered, remorse heavy in my voice.
“You’re a doctor now?” Greyson snickered and as much as I wanted to slug him for reasons that I didn’t want to delve into at that moment, I owed him an apology.
“I’m sorry. I thought you knew of her plan.”
Greyson nodded his head, “I’d never knowingly put Ali in the path of getting her hurt.”
“Can I see her?” Nic asked and I nodded my head in assent.
“I’m sorry,” I said to Nic. The last thing I’d ever want to do was hurt his sister.
Nic didn’t say anything at first, then he slid the glass door open, “You didn’t know.”
I shook my head from side to side, “No, I had no idea.”
“What I’d like to know is why she had to go through great lengths just to ask something from you.” Nic muttered, “I mean she didn’t have to do this and you’d say yes.”
I could see Greyson eyeing me from the corner of my eye.
Maybe he knew the truth, the way I did.
Ali didn’t have to put herself in danger’s way to ask me for something.
But it was obvious that she didn’t think I would say yes.
So she did the only way she thought she could get it from me.
To win against me.
I’d done it.
After all these years.
I’d finally made her bend, made her incapable of asking me anything that she had to resort to ultimatums in order to ask me a simple favor.
I thought distancing myself from her would make me happy.
Make the pain less.
Make the memories more bearable.
But knowing that I’d caused her pain, even if it was unintentional, didn’t settle well with me.
In
fact, it didn’t settle at all.
Alissa
“I haven’t seen my son visit me out of his own good will in a long time,” Aunt Ava said as she smeared a heaping amount of butter on her croissant.
“He must miss you,” I replied as I took a sip of the hot chocolate that their chef, Krystal, made for me as soon as she saw me enter the main dining room.
Aunt Ava’s right brow rose, her beautiful face in a half-smile. “I’d love to think that…But I’m pretty sure it’s because of a certain young lady staying with us for the summer.”
Nic had helped me convince Mom and Dad to have me stay with the Tanner’s for the rest of the summer. My parents were bummed, but they couldn’t say anything when I said that the reason was that I wanted to know how to manage a business.
Dad said that Grandpa would be happy to welcome me with open arms. He was after all the godfather of modern technology and he’d managed a multibillion-dollar empire longer than my dad’s been alive. But I’d asked them to keep it between us for now.
I liked business, but I didn’t know if it was really my heart’s calling.
I’d rather not involve my grandfather and have his heart broken if I found out that I’d like to do something else instead.
Mom asked Aunt Ava and Uncle Milo if I could stay with them instead of me living by myself in a rented condo somewhere on the Strip.
Aunt Ava welcomed me with open arms, so here I was, eating a small breakfast with the most powerful woman in the city, yet to me she was just Auntie.
“I don’t think so, Auntie.” I shook my head. I’d always called my parents’ closest friends Aunties and Uncles even if they weren’t related by blood. To me, they’d always been more like family. Mom and Dad both came from a “one and done” families so growing up with their friends and their own children made my childhood a happy one. “Matty thinks I’m a nuisance. I’m sure he’d rather be doing other fun things than showing me around and teaching me how T & T Inc. works.”
I didn’t mention anything about a nonprofit to my parents. Not even to my brother.
I was pretty sure the second the idea left my mouth, my parents would pile up their support. No, this was something I wanted to do on my own. I’d need their help eventually, but right now, it was something I really wanted to do myself.
Aunt Ava’s grey eyes lingered on my face, “You know my son well enough, Ali. There’s no one who can force him to do anything unless he wants to. Maybe it’s my fault because I spoiled him. His father sure didn’t.” She giggled at the thought of Uncle Milo, who’d excused himself twenty minutes ago to go for a quick run before he started his day. “He won’t be showing you around if he didn’t want to.”
I lifted my shoulders, “I may have forced him into doing this.”
To say that my brother and Greyson were upset when they found out that I was inside the cage with Matteo would be the understatement of the year.
My brother chewed me out and Greyson froze me out.
They both said their piece and even if I said I was sorry how many times already, I knew it would take some time before they could forgive me.
Greyson left town without speaking to me. He gave me a hug the morning after I woke up in Matteo’s suite, but that was it.
My texts went unanswered, he was stewing, and I let him be because I could admit that my actions were foolish. That I could have gotten hurt as all three of them had drilled in me that eventful morning.
Aunt Ava paused from chewing her egg white omelet, “Sometimes you have to take things into your own hands so people will listen.”
I absorbed her words and said, “Thank you for letting me stay with you.”
Her right hand flew in the air, “Psshh. Don’t mention it, sweetheart. You’re welcome here anytime. I love having you here, it makes me feel good not to be around so much testosterone.”
Faking a shiver, she added, “Being around men all day makes me grouchy.”
Yesterday, I got to see her hold a board meeting and if there was any doubt that she was the best person to lead T & T Inc., none of that remained when I left the room.
She listened to her constituents, but she also invoked respect when she gave her opinions. She based her statements on facts and never once did she shut down another person’s ideas. Rather she made brainstorming an art. She was an exceptional leader and it showed in the way the Board Members spoke and discussed company matters with her.
“How do you make your ideas heard?” I asked, curious about how she was able to convince all the men in the room to be onboard with increasing the childcare benefits for employees. Of the eight men in the room, two were initially opposed to it. But by the time the Head of Employee Benefits and Aunt Ava spoke about the positives without slighting the negatives, the opposition crossed over to the other side. Now T & T Inc. employees would offer an additional $1000 for childcare expenses in addition to the existing benefits.
“I listen to them, Ali. I really listen.” Aunt Ava said, her eyes softening, “I was a nurse before I took on the horns at T & T.”
A small laugh followed her statement.
“You were a nurse like my mom?” My mom retired as a nurse five years ago when Dad stepped down as GM for the Minnesota Fox. She still consulted for the hospital at times, but she’d definitely given up working around a schedule. They’d been talking about retiring for a while and they finally made the leap when Nic was a year away from his college graduation. They felt that we were leaving the nest so they wanted to spend all their time with me and Sofia. Their retirement also had a lot to do with Gramma passing away. When Gramma died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s, they felt that Grandpa needed all the support that he could get and they were right. Grandpa went through a long time feeling lost after the love of his life for fifty-one years took her final breath.
“I was…I only did it for a short time, but I went to nursing school because I wanted to help people.” Her eyes were glazed over as if remembering her younger years. “I also wanted to do it because your Aunt Brynnie was in it.” She and Aunt Brynn have been best friends since they were kids.
“Wow,” I said in awe. “You and her must have had tons of fun.”
“We did.” Her mouth was turned up on both sides, “Anyways, because of nursing, I actually learned how to listen to people. What they’re really saying when they’re upset or angry or frustrated. I became attuned to what motivates them – whether it be financial, emotional, or physical. There are certain needs that precede other matters and even when someone is extremely condescending, I’ve learned to hear what they actually want, their cues, their behaviors, especially when they’re not saying it.”
I let the cup of hot chocolate hover over my lips, “That’s incredible.”
“When we talk about business, everyone is concerned about the bottom line, how each company can stay in the black.” She proceeded to say, once in a while biting into the croissant that tasted like heaven when I dug my teeth into a whole one a few minutes ago, “While those are important, I believe that there is nothing more important than taking care of your people, the employees who have served the company for as long as they have. Value what they say, listen to them speak, and you’ll find that they’re the best allies to have.”
I’d sat in lecture halls, read tons of business books, and wrote up several papers of business theories and concepts, but there was nothing more enlightening than this moment.
She wasn’t Ava Tanner, one of America’s most powerful women in business, for no reason. She was proficient yet she was also compassionate.
She was an amazing role model to look up to.
Just like my mom.
Just like Aunt Nalee and Aunt Brynn.
I was still mulling over the greatness of the women my dad and his friends married when I heard the front door open and a voice that’s become familiar once again said, “Mom, have you seen Ali?”
He hadn’t even walked in the dining hall and yet he was asking for me a
lready.
He was forced to help me out.
He didn’t want to be anywhere near me.
Not after –
Especially because of –
“I know my son, Ali. His father and I raised him. No matter how big or how tall he’s gotten, he will always be the little boy who asked me to look for his most precious toy when he couldn’t find it himself.” Aunt Ava dredged up a smile before slowly setting down her cup of tea on the white coaster. “I haven’t seen him this happy for the longest time…I’ve missed that.”
“Moomm –” The voice was getting closer. “Where are you?”
“I don’t know what to say,” I said out loud. I couldn’t be the reason that Matteo’s happy. I was pretty sure I was nothing but a bother to him. He’s not shown me anything other than the occasional “You had lunch?” or “What are you doing?” whenever he left me with the other employees he thought would add to my experience.
“You don’t have to say anything.” She said in a reassuring voice as she started to stand up and I followed her lead, “All you have to do is listen.”
I nodded my head, “Okay.”
I wasn’t sure what I was agreeing to.
Not really.
All these years, Matteo and I have stayed away from each other.
These past few days had felt amazing.
Even when he didn’t say anything, I could just sit inside his car and savor his presence.
I’d missed his company and maybe I forced him into helping me out.
But maybe it was what had to happen so we could finally cross over the bridge that had separated us all this time.
Maybe it was time for us to finally talk about what happened.
Once and for all.
“I’m going to be on a conference call with our managing partners in Singapore.” He started as he sat down on the black leather chair inside his office. “Do you want to listen in?”
“Sure,” I said absent-mindedly fixing an invisible line on the white pantsuit that I’d bought yesterday from a boutique in Fashion Row. I hadn’t brought a lot of business clothes, so I went on a mini shopping spree yesterday and got some essentials – skirts, pantsuits, and blouses – clothes that I could mix n’ match while I was here.